Some organizations such as automobile dealerships, building maintenance firms, real estate companies and the like manage numerous locked structures. Often, this requires coordination and control over the use of many keys among many key users. To protect these keys, there have been several methods used by these organizations in an attempt to better coordinate and control the use of keys.
For example, an automobile dealership may employ a pegboard system whereby a dispatcher distributes keys to the automobile salesman upon request. There are several inherent problems with this method of key control. First, without accountability, the automobile salesman may simply forget to return the automobile keys and the dispatcher has no method of knowing who most recently took the keys. Second, if the keys are returned, the dispatcher may inadvertently place the returned automobile keys on the wrong peg. Third, even if an identification tag of the automobile salesman is placed upon the peg in exchange for the car keys, the salesman could always argue that the car keys were returned but the dispatcher failed to remove his identification tag.
Another method for the coordination and control of keys used in the automotive dealership industry as well as the real estate industry is a combination-type lock box. The lock box is either secured to the door of a home being offered for sale or the lock box is secured to the window of an automobile. Typically, these lock boxes have a door which can be removed by anyone with knowledge of the appropriate combination to gain access to the keys.
Some firms simply lock their keys in a drawer or cabinet. Anyone with a key or knowledge of the combination to that drawer or cabinet can gain access to these keys. In the building maintenance industry, many people such as the building maintenance engineers, fireman, building inspectors and others require the use of a master key. Due to the extraordinary expense of reproducing a master key of this type, only one or two keys are often shared among all of those who have a need to use it. Key coordination and control are paramount in the building maintenance industry.
In short, the major problem associated with these prior art methods of coordinating and controlling protected keys is human fallibility. Without accountability, the user of these keys has no incentive or reason to return the keys or return the same to their proper place.
Despite these systems, there remains a need for improved systems and methods for controlling access to keys and other items. These needs include a need for simple, inexpensive apparatus that eliminates intensive human monitoring. There is further a need for versatile control system that may be employed in a variety of applications without the need for special constructs dedicated to the application. It is from these considerations and others that the present invention has evolved.